Even though she won, state Rep. Sandy Pasch wasn't comfortable with the way things played out in her race in the 10th Assembly District.

"In a lot of ways, it was more painful and hurtful than my previous runs," she said.

That's really saying something, given the Democratic legislator's previous run was during last year's bitter recall elections. Her challenge of Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling was pretty contentious by most standards.

Pasch ended up losing that race, where she fully expected to get blasted by Republicans who supported Darling. This time around, she found herself taking heat from members of her own party through no fault of her own.

After all, she can't help that she's white.

Pasch was the only white candidate in a Democratic primary field that pitted her against three African-American candidates in a district that had historically been represented by a black politician. Added to that was the fact the 10th District was redrawn by Republicans to include parts of Pasch's old suburban district and another district that had an African-American majority.

All of that came to a head at a community forum where Rep. Elizabeth Coggs - the departing 10th District representative - urged the predominantly African-American crowd to "vote for someone who looks like you."

You didn't need a political science degree to figure out who she was talking about.

Pasch was in the room but wasn't shocked by the comment.

"I had heard it before," she said. "It wasn't the first time she'd said it."

Pasch said she was pleased most of the African-Americans at the forum reacted negatively to Coggs' words. But a week after the election, she still sounded wounded. Several prominent African-American legislators, past and present, supported Pasch's challenger, Millie Coby, who won more votes in the city, although Pasch won overwhelmingly in the suburbs.

Pasch said she understood the historical context for those who wanted a black politician to represent a predominantly black area of the city but didn't understand why she was targeted as an interloper.

"All of a sudden, former friends and colleagues were against me," she recalled. "It was a distraction because the issues in Milwaukee are so huge, we didn't need that."

No Republican filed for the seat.

Pasch said her background as a nurse who advocated for public health issues would serve her well in the new district with voters of all races. She said issues such as incarceration rates, gun control and infant mortality rates would remain priorities.

Like others, Pasch suspects Republicans who drew new maps wanted to create dissent between traditional Democratic allies. Pasch is prepared to face African-American challengers each time she's up for re-election. In other words, she's likely to hear "vote for someone who looks like you" during a future campaign.

"If I'm not serving the people of the 10th and listening to their concerns, I don't deserve to be re-elected," she said. "If politicians aren't responsible to the public, they should go."